Fear...in 3-D

Here's something that until now I think I've pretty much only told my immediate family: when I was a child, about 8 years old or so, I was terrified of my family's set of encyclopedias. Well, to be fair, it wasn't the ENTIRE set that I was afraid of, just the first book, the "A-Ast" book. That's because that's where the article "Anatomy" was housed, and inside that article was a peel away model of the human body. Printed on normal paper was a full sized picture of the human skeleton, and then there were several layers of clear plastic on top of that page, each of which had a drawing on it of a specific anatomical system. You know, the muscular system, the circulatory system, and so on.

It was educational, sure, but it was also frightening. The muscle guy and the nervous system guy, especially, looked like monsters to me. So, since the set of encyclopedias were housed in MY bedroom, I spent my eighth year of life sleeping with nothing sticking out of the covers except for my nose. That way, I knew I was safe from Muscle Man and his pal Nerve Guy.

Now today I find that--in Google's "Labs"--there's a 3-D, online version of that page that frightened me. In all honesty, my 43 year old self finds it not at all scary and pretty cool.

Still, I'm glad that my computer isn't in my bedroom...

Click here to see what I'm talking about.


P.S. I just found out that this web site has problems running in Internet Explorer--works best in Google Chrome (Of course a Google product works best in Google Chrome!).

Lost in Translation

This afternoon at work I received a shipment of a couple of digital camcorders that I used technology funds to purchase for the high school and middle school media centers. I had trouble getting a couple of things to work with the camcorders, though, so I did something I rarely do--I actually read the instructions! In this case, though, the instructions befuddled me more than just trying to wing it on my own. Here are some actual excerpts from the last page of the instruction manual (Errors are intended and are all the fault of the instruction manual).

Section X: Frequent Ask Question


Problem 1: The camera won't be turned on?
Solution: First, please to make sure the battery installs itself correctly. Take out the battery. Then, please to make sure if the battery has run out on you. Third, please to make sure if the SD card is inserted correctly....


...Problem 4: Blurred images are obtained by said device?
Solution: First, please to make sure the light is enough when taking photos or please to make sure the light is enough when taking videos or please to make sure the light is enough when using as a webcam. Second, when camera is attached to tripod, please to make sure to not use tripod.


Problem 5: Photos or videos or webcam can not be taken or photos or videos or webcam can not be used?
Solution: First, the memory may be no available space. Second, the SD card may be no available space, or the SD card may be locked so that the SD card may be no available record.

And here's one that--even as a technology person--I would be intimidated to try:

Problem 6: Interference or blurred images are obtained or occur when connected to computer?
Solution: Operate the camera in program mode after change to 50 HZ or 60 HZ or 85 HZ the camera frequency after battery is charged or full so that no save occurs when battery is not charged or empty.

And end users argue that technology is difficult!...

'Cause the Times...

Technology changes so quickly....

I've had a "Smart" cell phone for about six years now. My latest smart phone was the top of the line Nokia phone from this time in 2009. I love the convenience of being able to check my email, download podcasts, browse the web, read books, and view my calendar wherever I am, as well as (as you other smart phone users know) thousands of other things I can do with my phone. My wife, though, has NOT had a smart phone. For years she had the same, plain old flip phone, not exactly like the one on the right, but darn close to it. It was the only cell phone she'd ever had, and it literally was at least eight years old. Finally, I went to make a call on it a few weeks ago and saw that the LCD screen was broken so that all of the liquid had leaked around the screen to the point that the screen looked like a Jackson Pollock painting, and I looked at my wife and said, "Honey! We have to get you a new phone!" So we did. And she agreed that--at long last--it was time to get a smart phone.

I did some research online, and the phone I ended up buying for her was an inexpensive Android smart phone called the Huwai Ascend. Many reviews, including the one linked to here, were not flattering of the phone, describing it as "a low end phone" or at best "a good introduction to the Android phone." But there were enough positive reviews, and the phone was cheap enough, so I decided I'd go ahead and buy it, and if it wasn't quite up to par to my top of the line 2009 model, my wife would never know the difference, since she'd never had a smart phone.

But apparently I am the one who never knew the difference, because her 2011 bottom of the line smart phone runs circles around my 2009 top of the line smart phone. Cell phones have changed that much in two years. Her phone is faster, more responsive, and with more applications. I'm not saying I'm jealous, because I'm satisfied with what I have (Also, since mine is paid for by my school district, I don't really have any reason to complain about it). What I am saying is that it's amazing how much cheaper and faster cell phones have gotten in just two years. My wife's phone was half the price of mine and is easily four or five times as fast.

There's a lot of talk in technology education circles about students using cell phones as their primary computing advice. The conversation goes something like this: We go to all of the trouble of forcing students to NOT bring their cell phones to school, or at least to put them in their lockers, and then we struggle to find funds for a 1 to 1 laptop initiative. Meanwhile, there's all of this computing power sitting unused in the students' lockers. Why don't we just let the students use their phones?

I thought that whole line of reasoning was hogwash back a month ago when I thought my top of the line 2009 smart phone was what cell phones could do today. Now that I've seen my wife's cheap prepaid cell phone, my mind has been changed.

Confused

Today as I drove past the Erlanger Fire Department building I noticed a sign in the window beside their entrance. It's a sign I've seen many times before on many different buildings. It says "Safe Place" and signifies that this is a place where children in crisis (runaways, abuse victims, etc.) can get help.

As I said, I've seen this sign many times before, but today was the first time that I ever actually LOOKED at the sign, and I have to say--it creeps me out. What is going ON in the picture?

I understand that the picture shows two figures--one white and one black--inside of a house. But I'm befuddled as to what it is that those two are doing. I only see four possibilities, and none of them seem to go along with the idea of a "safe place."

Possibility Number One: The White Guy is Jumping the Black Guy

When I first looked at the image, I assumed that what was happening was that the black figure was facing me and so was the white figure, and the white figure had snuck up on the black figure and grabbed him from behind! This isn't an image that I associate with a Safe Place. This is a kidnapping in progress!

Possibility Number Two: The Figures are Facing One Another

Since my first thought didn't seem to make much sense to me, I assumed that maybe I was seeing the figures wrong. Maybe the black figure in the front was FACING the white figure. That way the white guy wouldn't be sneaking up on him from behind. If that's the case, though, aren't the figures awfully close together? Is the white figure KISSING the black figuire? And why isn't the black figure returning the hug? Is the white guy forcing himself on the black guy? Again, not the sort of action I'd be excpecting from a business that's supposed to be a Safe Place. Maybe the sign should read "Pedophile Place"!

Possibility Number Three: The White Figure is Protecting the Black Figure

Since the second possibility didn't make much sense, either, I went back to assuming that both figures were facing front. If the larger white figure, presumably the adult, isn't attacking the black figure, presumably the child, then what is going on? Maybe, I thought, maybe the white figure is PROTECTING the black figure by wrapping his arms around him. If that's the case, though, why in the world is the black figure in FRONT of the white figure? It doesn't look like the white figure is protecting the black figure. It looks like he's using him as a shield!

Possibilitiy Number Four: The Black Figure is Protecting the White Figure

So maybe I'm seeing it wrong again. Maybe it's the black figure who's protecting the white figure. But why--if that's the case--is the white figure so much larger than the black figure? Is the child protecting the adult?

I don't know. Maybe someone reading this can explain the graphic in a way that makes sense! But I think that maybe there wasn't a lot of thought put into this sign.

Not an Instant Winner

A couple of mornings ago I opened a new box of cereal for breakfast. As I did so, I noticed that printed on the inside of the box in large black letters were the words, "SORRY, YOU ARE NOT AN INSTANT WINNER."  I had to look at the back of the cereal box to see what it was I had just not won. It was a $25,000 kitchen makeover, which I really could have used. And I have to say this: I was a little bummed. Not to have lost, but to have found out I lost at something BEFORE I even knew I was playing.

It must feel like that for some young people. Brain research is beginning to demonstrate unequivocally that teenagers don't have fully developed brains, that their brains are not capable of comprehending the long term consequences of decisions. But by the time young people DO have fully developed brains, in their early to mid-twenties, they will have made several life-altering decisions, and to a large extent the course of their lives will have been decided. Did the youngster finish high school or drop out? Did the youngster glide through basic courses with D's, or did the youngster work his hardest and take advanced courses? Did he get a degree from a four year college, or did he drop out of community college? What career did this person decide to pursue? We're asking teenagers to make some of the most important decisions of their lives at a time when they're not fully capable of seeing how those decisions are going to affect them over the next 50 years.

My children are both approaching these critical years. My older daughter starts the ninth grade in just a few months, and by this time four years from now she'll have probably made up her mind about where she's going to go to college (Note that I didn't make college an option for her). It's the job of myself and my wife over the next few years to guide our children as they make these important decisions, so that they don't wake up one day when they're 25 years old and realize that they, too, are not an instant winner.

Jargon

It's amazing how much jargon there is in my work life. I sent an email just a little while ago, and here it is word for word:

"Hi, Karen. Has the SPIN for CBW changed? I did a quick SPIN search and noticed that—according to USAC—there’s no SPAC filed for 2011 for that SPIN. Please help!"

Note in that brief email that there are no less than FOUR acronyms, and that one is used three times. And do you want to know the amazing thing about that email? The person I wrote it to understand EXACTLY what I meant and responded in about five minutes!

If you're not involved in the same line of work that I'm in, I'm sure none of that made sense to you. If you ARE involved in the same line of work I'm in, all I can say is that I'm sorry for you.

Netflix Vs. Hulu Plus

About a year ago I wrote about the Roku player that I had purchased so that we could watch Netflix on our big screen HDTV rather than just on our little computer screen. At the time I wrote about what a great product the Roku player was. A year later I still love the thing, and I'd easily rather give up cable than give up Netflix (In fact, we HAVE given up most of cable; we have the lowest tier our cable company offers, which gives us only local channels and WGN). One problem with Netflix, though, is that while it has hundreds of TV shows available for viewing, they're never the current episodes. For instance, though The Office can be viewed at any time on Netflix, THIS SEASON'S episodes won't be available until late summer.

Enter Hulu Plus. A few months ago Hulu, which is a free online website that features TV episodes FROM THE CURRENT SEASON, began offering a paid subscription service called Hulu Plus. It's available in various formats, including on the Roku player. Roku is offering a free one month trial, and I took them up on the offer this month so that my wife, who discovered the TV show Brothers and Sisters on Netflix, could watch this season's shows. And I have to say this: I hate it.

There are three things about Hulu Plus, at least on the Roku, that I hate.

1. Navigation. While there's room for improvement to Netflix's navigation on the Roku, the Hulu navigation is TERRIBLE. There's no way that I can tell to search for a specific show by name. To get to Brothers and Sisters, I had to click on "TV Episodes"-->"Alphabetical"-->"B" and then scroll one at a time through all of the shows available on Hulu Plus that begin with the letter "B." You CAN subscribe to a show, but getting to the subscription page isn't a whole lot easier. And moving around inside of a show, which is hard enough in Netflix on the Roku, is almost impossible in Hulu Plus.
2. Loading Time. Loading Hulu Plus from the Roku, and loading specific shows from inside Hulu Plus, take forever.
3. Commercials. This is the one that REALLY gets to me. I could overlook #1 and #2 above, but the fact that there are commercials on Hulu drives me crazy. Which is funny, because before DVR's and Netflix I used to sit through five or six commercials between segments of a show, but on Hulu I get irritated that I have to watch ONE 30 second commercial between segments. I've been spoiled by Netflix, I guess.

So I'm sorry, Hulu, but once my free month is up, I'll be dropping my subscription. In fact, now that my wife has gotten caught up on Brothers and Sisters, I think I'll go drop it now before I forget. 

Music and Education

This past Thursday evening I got to watch my older daughter—an 8th grader—play bass clarinet in a concert at Northern Kentucky University. The concert was a joint performance with my daughter’s high school’s symphonic band and the Northern Kentucky University Symphonic Winds. My daughter was one of three 8th graders asked to participate in the concert, which began with the high school band performing three pieces, followed by the NKU band performing five pieces, and ended with the two bands combining into one massive band for a final piece that was both rousing and controlled.

During the performance by the NKU band, the audience was treated to a piece which featured an NKU euphonium player. This musician, whose name I can’t remember right now, had recently been named the most outstanding soloist at Northern Kentucky University. And when the two bands assembled together onstage, and while some of the musicians were rearranging chairs and positioning bandstands and tending to their instruments, I looked over and saw that my daughter and this NKU musician were just a couple of chairs away from each other, and my heart swelled with pride and with gratitude that my daughter was able to share the stage with these college-aged musicians. She sat right beside one of the NKU clarinet players, who leaned over to her and said something. My daughter replied and they both smiled and went back to warming up with their instruments. I don’t know what was said but it doesn’t matter—the interaction with the more advanced student is what I appreciated.

And as I watched everyone on stage, a thought occurred to me: So often the music programs at schools—because they’re not tested by state assessments nor the No Child Left Behind program—are relegated to second-class status. I know in my high school, when I was a teacher, the English department would work on curriculum standards and disaggregating data and all kinds of other stuff, and the math department and science department and social studies department would all do the same. Meanwhile, the music, art, business, and vocational education programs were all lumped together into one and asked to work together. They were an afterthought.

Even worse, I guess, is being a NO thought. In many school districts, music programs are being cut out entirely. They’re just viewed as not that important.

And that’s wrong. There’s a lot to be learned from these “unimportant” music programs. Looking at my advanced daughter sitting beside high school students sitting beside college students, it occurred to me that the music program is WAY ahead of the other programs in education when it comes to individualized instruction. There was my daughter, being allowed to move at her own pace. Meanwhile, in English class, where she’s just as advanced, she’s reading the same on-grade-level novel as her peers, writing bland five paragraph essays, and bored out of her mind.

Whenever there’s a band concert at my daughter’s school, there’s always a (cheaply) printed program available. The program lists all of the students performing, and there’s always a bunch of symbols beside different students’ names, a bunch of #, *, and ^. Some of the symbols point out that a student was in All-State or is a member of "Select Band," but there's one there that I've always found interesting: "Enrolled in private lessons." The music directors are trying to point out that these students are working hard to get to where they are musically. Private lessons in music are perceived as a GOOD thing. That's not the case with "regular" subjects. Imagine if at Honor's Day there were asterisks beside award winner's names with notices like "*Attended after school services" or "Enrolled in private tutoring." Those things would be viewed as a sign of weakenss on the part of the student, not as a willingness to improve!

So there's a lot to be learned from music education. If the main education courses were taught like music education, here's what you would find:

• As mentioned above, students would be allowed to progress at their own pace.
• Talented students would take on additional work, and would view it as an honor and a privilege, not as just being given more work.
• Students wouldn't be required to take EVERY branch of a subject level. Instead, the general ideas of the subject would be taught through a specific field of interest for students. (Thus, just as my daughters learn the principles of music by playing specific instruments--clarinet and horn--science students would learn the principles of science by focusing on only ONE science--maybe anatomy, or biology).
• Teachers would admit that they are not experts in EVERY field of their department, and would bring in outside professionals and amateurs to help students in those areas.
• Students would be honored and rewarded for seeking additional assistance.

So maybe instead of pushing these programs to the periphery, we should be examining them to see what we can learn. We might be surprised!